Email List Hygiene Checklist
Complete checklist for maintaining a clean, verified email list that maximizes deliverability and protects your sender reputation.
Verify Your List
Run email verification on your entire list
easyUse an email verification service to check every address for validity. Remove hard bounces, disposable emails, and clearly invalid addresses.
Identify and flag catch-all domains
easyCatch-all domains accept all email regardless of the specific address. Flag these contacts for careful handling — deliverability is uncertain.
Remove role-based addresses from outreach lists
easyAddresses like info@, support@, admin@ typically have lower engagement and higher complaint rates. Remove them from sales outreach lists.
Flag free email providers for B2B lists
easyGmail, Yahoo, and Outlook addresses in a B2B list may indicate personal emails rather than business contacts. Flag these for review.
Clean & Segment
Remove contacts who haven't opened in 6 months
easyCreate a segment of contacts with zero email opens in the past 6 months. These contacts hurt your engagement metrics and sender reputation.
Handle bounced emails immediately
easyAfter each campaign, remove hard bounces from your list. Soft bounces should be monitored — remove after 3 consecutive soft bounces.
Check for spam trap indicators
mediumOld lists and purchased lists are more likely to contain spam traps. If your list hasn't been verified recently, assume it contains some.
Segment by engagement level
mediumCreate segments for highly engaged (opened last 30 days), moderately engaged (opened last 90 days), and cold (no engagement) contacts.
Maintain Ongoing Hygiene
Set up real-time verification for new subscribers
mediumVerify email addresses at the point of entry (signup forms, import) to prevent invalid emails from entering your database.
Schedule quarterly list verification
easyRe-verify your entire email list every quarter to catch addresses that have become invalid due to job changes and domain expiration.
Monitor deliverability metrics weekly
easyTrack bounce rate, spam complaint rate, and inbox placement rate. Investigate any sudden changes that could indicate list quality issues.
Pro Tips
- Keep your bounce rate under 2% — anything higher risks damage to your sender reputation
- Never buy email lists. Purchased lists are the #1 source of spam trap hits and reputation damage
- Verify emails before every major campaign, even if you verified recently. Data decays fast
- Use double opt-in for marketing lists to ensure email addresses are valid from the start
- Cleanlist's email verification checks MX records, SMTP validity, and catch-all status in a single pass
Related Cleanlist Features
Related Checklists
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I clean my email list?
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Verify your entire list quarterly and before any major campaign. Additionally, remove hard bounces after every send and re-verify contacts that haven't engaged in 6+ months. For high-volume senders, monthly verification is recommended.
What is a good email bounce rate?
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Keep your bounce rate under 2% for optimal deliverability. A bounce rate of 2-5% signals list quality issues that need attention. Above 5% indicates serious hygiene problems that will likely damage your sender reputation and inbox placement.
What are catch-all emails and how should I handle them?
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Catch-all domains are configured to accept email sent to any address at that domain, even if the specific mailbox doesn't exist. This means verification can't confirm whether the individual address is real. For sales outreach, you can include catch-all emails but monitor their bounce rates separately.
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